( seemingly oblivious as to the thoughts steve is having, eddie focuses on everything that his friend tells him. about robin, about the kids, about nancy. he feels his heart ache, yearning to go back home but deep down he feels like he's made the right choice. it's not like steve or the others could have kept him protected forever.

still, it gets awfully lonely here on his own. eddie hasn't made any attempts to put himself out there, especially with all of his scars, and being hung up on one person in particular does make it a little difficult to want to flirt with anyone else.

his eyes glisten at the mention of vickie, though. ) A new friend, huh? ( it's not as if eddie had a chance to outright talk to robin, but it's easy to spot one of your own. he doesn't press for confirmation, though. he knows he wouldn't want steve outing him, even accidentally.

but then steve mentions nancy, and eddie frowns, that ache in his chest turning into something sour. he had pushed the two of them together partially because he didn't think he stood a chance. steve is painfully straight, or so eddie assumes, and really he just wanted to see steve happy. he thought for a moment there that nancy made him happy. )

Sorry. I guess I thought, you know. When she hopped in there after you? I just assumed, you know? To me, I couldn't fathom anyone jumping in after you unless they were still deeply in love with you, but uh. Yeah, why anyone would take that kind of advice from me... ( he joins steve in the self-deprecating smile department. )